Are Training Attendance Sheets Appropriate for Measuring Training Effectiveness?

Bare minimum

That’s right. Training attendance sheets are the bare minimum when it comes to training effectiveness. If you think about it, all you are saying is this person attended the training session on whatever topic was taught. Did they understand, comprehend or even listened to the training? That’s a whole different story. All you are saying with the training attendance sheet is that there was a warm body present during the training and that’s about it. You have yet to determine if this person’s competency was enhanced by the training or if their performance was improved by the training to the benefit of their position and the organization.

So why have training attendance sheets been accepted for so long as a measure of training effectiveness?

If you have been relying on training attendance sheets solely to measure training effectiveness then you are not alone. However this is not a misconception but rather a take-the- path-of- least-resistance approach. And while this may be acceptable in some cases, it should definitely not be the norm nor the standard. Many organizations started using training attendance sheets when they begin their journey to a better quality. While that may have been good initially, it was definitely not meant to be the solution for the long run. Think about going from 0 to 60 mph, would you say it is easier to go from 0 to 30 mph and then 60 mph? That’s what an organization having nothing at all in terms of a training program would say. So when they established a training class, then the class itself and the training attendance sheet are great, a magnificent improvement over nothing, but never meant to be the end of it. Therefore if you are asking why all the sudden the topic of training effectiveness is coming up? Is it that the new revision of ISO 9001 will require it? Or is it that auditors are getting asked to look for it? Well yes and yes. In essence, many companies just never left the 30 mph speed and have used training attendance sheet as a measure of effectiveness forever. Hence, whatever situation you believe your company falls under, you should definitely consider enhancing the way you measure training effectiveness, because measuring training effectiveness will indeed help your organization improve and obtain more out of your current training program.

Are Performance Reviews acceptable for measuring training effectiveness?

Well yes and no. To a certain extent, Performance Reviews measure training effectiveness in the sense that you can see if the employee’s performance was acceptable to meet the requirements of the job position. However that depends on whether the training you provided was directly tied to enhancing the employee’s knowledge of their job, and therefore by measuring their performance you can see if there was improvement. However because Performance Reviews are not necessarily conducted right after training or even 6, 9 months or sometimes every few years, then it is hard to tell whether a specific training class was effective in improving the performance of the employee. But you may ask, if the performance was improved, then the training conducted was effective, whether the training was conducted 1 year ago or 1 month ago? Not so fast, I will say. It could also be that the person learned by trial and error, that is, they may have made so many mistakes that after 12 months they finally learned and their performance is now acceptable. Problem is that you may not know about those errors. Errors could just be slow task completion, a higher rework rate or a lower yield, neither which may be necessarily directly attributed to the specific employee. If your performance review process is robust, then you may catch this, otherwise you may give this person high praises when in fact they were trained by accident.

Other ways to measure training effectiveness

So are there other ways to measure training effectiveness besides attendance sheets and performance reviews? Well the good news is yes there are. They range from simple to complex, but overall they are much better than the options presented above.

Here are a few samples of ways you can measure training effectiveness more effectively:

1. Test or evaluation after the training is completed – for classroom or web-based training. If considering web-based training, place special attention if you software is capable of changing questions for each user. In our Web QMS’s E-Learning module, we are able to create tests with multiple questions and show each user only a portion of them, thus each test rotates the questions being shown.
2. Demonstration of work or skills gained after training has been completed – for hands-on training. This training is particularly good for manual tasks or even computer tasks. And as mentioned before you can build this into a web-based training so that you force the employee to be fully alert and test their skills in real time as they learn them. In the Mireaux’s Web QMS, if the training is about a specific computer program, we make sure to make it interactive, so you are measuring training effectiveness as you teach.
3. Pre and post training evaluation – this is helpful for any training, and in my view is the optimum way to measure training effectiveness. You are basically measuring what the employee knew before the training and what they knew after the training. Whether the training is hands or just classroom, you can do this and you will not only be measuring how much the employee learned but also just how good the training materials or the instructor were because you basically have the before and after picture.
4. Training certificate – for off site or outsourced training. Of course if the organization providing the training does not take a test, then the training certificate is basically an overrated training attendance sheet. Whether there were warm or alert bodies, everyone is getting the same certificate. So this measure of training effectiveness has to be decided and would involve on the quality of the training supplier.

So what method of training effectiveness should I use?

The method of training effectiveness depends on your organization’s processes and what suits best to your company to ensure that employees can retain the topics being taught. However I urge you to pick from the enhanced methods of measuring training effectiveness and leave Training Attendance Sheets and Performance Reviews in a supporting role. In our consulting practice we have wowed to conduct quizzes or tests right after each training is deployed to ensure we can always determine if the training was effective or not. Whether the training is web-based and done through our Web-QMS’s E-Learning or in a classroom, we determined years ago to not sacrifice complacency with results. While some people may think you are being overly reaching, you should feel very comfortable that you are providing not only great training but also measuring how good it was so both you and the employees can improve. Of course us being consultants we have to set the standards, therefore, whether it is operators or CEOs, we always pull our tests and proceed to say “…now let’s have a short quiz”. In your case, don’t be shy, just pull your test and tell everyone that what you are doing is in the best interest of your company in your quest to become a world class quality organization.

This article was published by Quality Digest on 05/15/2011.